ATO to relax tax laws

The Tax Office is taking a less-aggressive approach to the nation's largest companies than it used to, with its submission to the inquiry into corporate tax avoidance confirming there is only one company in the nation that is deemed "higher risk".

The inquiry, which is examining tax avoidance and tax minimisation strategies by multinationals following a controversial Tax Justice Network report that said of Australia's largest 200 publicly listed companies, 29 per cent had an effective tax rate of 10 per cent or less, and 14 per cent had an effective tax rate of 0 per cent, has also heard from a host of the nation's top companies and lobby groups, who have defended the amount of taxes companies pay, and are putting pressure on the Abbott government to amend existing laws that would make company tax information revealed publicly.

The big companies are crying that they pay too much tax, too many people know what tax they pay and the media reports that they don;t pay enough tax have to be stopped